Al Young (poet)
Al Young (born May 31, 1939) is an African-American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and academic. Life Young was born at Ocean Springs, Mississippi on the Gulf Coast near Biloxi,Al Young, Poets.org, Academy of American Poets. Web, May 2, 2015. He grew up in the rural xouth of villages and small towns, and in urban, industrial Detroit. From 1957 to 1960 he attended the University of Michigan, where he co-edited Generation, the campus literary magazine. In 1961 he moved to the San Francisco Bay area of California. Settling in Berkeley, he held a variety of colorful jobs (folksinger, lab aide, disk jockey, medical photographer, clerk typist, employment counselor) before graduating with honors from U.C. Berkeley with a degree in Spanish. His marriage in 1963 to technical writer and editor Arline Young produced a child: their son Michael, born in 1971. In the 1970s he wrote film scripts for producer Joseph Strick, Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, and Richard Pryor. In the 1980s and 90’s, as a cultural ambassador for the United States Information Agency, he traveled throughout South Asia, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. In 2001 he traveled to the Persian Gulf to lecture on American and African American literature and culture in Kuwait and in Bahrain for the U.S. Department of State. Subsequent lecture tours took him to Southern Italy in 2004, and to Italy in 2005. His poetry and prose have been translated into Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Serbo-Croatian, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, German, Urdu, Korean, and other languages. Blending story, recitation and song, Young often performs with musicians.John C. Smith University > Lyceum Series - Fall 2008 > Al Young, California State Poet Laureate and Woodrow Wilson Fellow > Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Reading > Al Young Biography Young’s many books include novels, collections of poetry, essays, and memoirs. His work has appeared in literary journals and magazines including Paris Review, Ploughshares,[http://www.pshares.org/authors/author-detail.cfm?authorID=1695 Ploughshares > Authors & Articles > Al Young] Essence, The New York Times, Chicago Review,[http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/review/60th/28youngindex.shtml Chicago Review > 21:4 Summer 1970 > AL YOUNG > For Jack Spicer] Seattle Review, Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz & Literature, Chelsea, Rolling Stone, Gathering of the Tribes, and in anthologies including the Norton Anthology of African American Literature, and the Oxford Anthology of African American Literature.Al Young's Author WebsiteJohn C. Smith University > Lyceum Series - Fall 2008 > Al Young, California State Poet Laureate and Woodrow Wilson Fellow > Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Reading > Al Young Biography Teaching career From 1969-1976 he was Edward B. Jones Lecturer in Creative Writing at Stanford near Palo Alto, where he lived and worked for 3 decades. In the year 2000 he returned to Berkeley, where he continues to freelance.John C. Smith University > Lyceum Series - Fall 2008 > Al Young, California State Poet Laureate and Woodrow Wilson Fellow > Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Reading > Al Young Biography Young has taught poetry, fiction writing and American literature at U.C. Berkeley, U.C. Santa Cruz, U.C. Davis, Bowling Green State University, Foothill College, the Colorado College, Rice University, the University of Washington, the University of Michigan, the University of Arkansas, San José State University, where he was appointed the 2002 Lurie distinguished professor of creative writing, and Charles University in the Czech Republic under the auspices of the Prague Summer Programs. In the spring of 2003 he taught poetry at Davidson College in (Davidson, NC), where he was McGee professor in writing. In the fall of 2003, as the inaugural Coffey visiting professor of creative writing at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, he taught a poetry workshop. From 2003 to 2006 he served on the faculty of Cave Canem’s summer workshop retreats for African-American poets.John C. Smith University > Lyceum Series - Fall 2008 > Al Young, California State Poet Laureate and Woodrow Wilson Fellow > Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Reading > Al Young Biography Recognition His honors include Wallace Stegner, Guggenheim,John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation > Fellows Search: Al Young > 1974 Creative Arts Fellow - Fiction Fulbright, and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships,NEA Literature Fellowships > Forty Years of Supporting American Writers > Past Recipients the PEN-Library of Congress Award for Short Fiction, the PEN-USA Award for Non-Fiction, 2 Pushcart Prizes, 2 New York Times Notable Book of the year citations, an Arts Council Silicon Valley Fellowship, the Stephen Henderson Achievement Award for Poetry, Radio Pacifica’s KPFA Peace Prize, the Glenna Luschei Distinguished Poetry Fellowship, and the Richard Wright Award for Excellence in Literature. He has twice received the American Book Award, for Bodies and Soul: Musical Memoirs (1982) and The Sound of Dreams Remembered: Poems 1990-2000 (2002).John C. Smith University > Lyceum Series - Fall 2008 > Al Young, California State Poet Laureate and Woodrow Wilson Fellow > Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Reading > Al Young Biography On May 15, 2005 he was named Poet Laureate of California by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In appointing Young as Poet Laureate, the Governor praised him: "He is an educator and a man with a passion for the Arts. His remarkable talent and sense of mission to bring poetry into the lives of Californians is an inspiration." Muriel Johnson, Director of the California Arts Council declared: "Like jazz, Al Young is an original American voice."[http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/press-release/1927/ State of California > Office of the Governor > Press Release: Governor Schwarzenegger Appoints Al Young Poet Laureate > May 12, 2005] Publications Poetry *''Dancing: Poems''. New York: Corinth Books, 1969, *''The Song Turning Back into Itself''. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1971. *''Geography of the Near Past: Poems''. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1976. *''The Blues Don't Change: New and selected poems''. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1982. *''Heaven: Collected Poems, 1956-1990''. Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts, 1992. *''Straight No Chaser'' (chapbook). Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts, 1994. *''Conjugal Visits'' (chapbook). Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts, 1994. *''The Sound of Dreams Remembered: Poems, 1990-2000''. Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts, 2001. *''Coastal Nights and Inland Afternoons: Poems, 2001-2006''. Santa Monica, CA: Angel City Press, 2006. *''Something About the Blues: An unlikely collection of poetry'' (book & CD). Napierville, IL: Sourcebooks MediaFusion, 2008. *''Jazz Idiom: Blueprints, stills, and frames; the jazz photography of Charles L. Robinson'' (with photos & comments by Charles L. Robinson, poetic takes & riffs by Al Young). Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 2008. Novels *''Snakes: A novel''. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1970; London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1971. *''Who Is Angelina? A novel'' New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1975; Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1996. *''Sitting Pretty: A novel''. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston, 1976. *''Ask Me Now''. New York: McGraw-Hill / San Francisco: San Francisco Book Co., 1980. *''Seduction By Light''. New York: Delta Fiction, 1988. Non-fiction *''Bodies & Soul: Musical memoirs''. Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts, 1981. *''Kinds of Blue: Musical memoirs''. San Francisco: D.S. Ellis / Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts, 1984. *''Things Ain't What They Used to Be: Musical memoirs''. Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts, 1986. *''Mingus Mingus: Two memoirs'' (with Janet Coleman). Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts, 1989. *''Drowning in the Sea of Love: Musical memoirs''. Hopewell, NJ: Ecco Press, 1995. Edited * Yardbird Lives! (edited with Ishmael Reed). New York: Grove Press, 1978. * African American Literature: A brief introduction and anthology. New York: HarperCollins, 1996. * The Literature of California, Volume 1: Native American beginnings to 1945 (edited with Jack Hicks, James D. Houston and Maxine Hong Kingston). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Al Young, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, May 2, 2015. Audio / video *''Al Young'' (cassette). Los Angeles: Pacifica Tape Library, 197- *''Al Young'' (cassette). Kansas City, MO: University of Missouri, 1986. *''Al Young II'' (cassette). Kansas City, MO; New Letters, 1990. Except where noted, discographical information courtesy WorldCat. See also *African American poets *List of U.S. poets References Notes External links ;Poems *Al Young b. 1939 at the Poetry Foundation *Poetry & lyrics ;Audio / video *Al Young at YouTube *[http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid=14191 VIDEO & AUDIO: U.C. Berkeley Webcasts > Lunch Poems by Al Young > November 3, 2005, 12:00PM > Morrison Library] *[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89884635 AUDIO: NPR > Morning Edition > California Poet Laureate Al Young's 'Blues' > April 24, 2008] *[http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/author.php?auth_id=1414 AUDIO: The Writers's Almanac with Garrison Keillor > Poems by Al Young: Ponce de Leon: A Morning Walk > April 8, 1996] *Al Young poetry reading podcast, Davidson College ;Books *Al Young at Amazon.com ;About *Al Young profile at the Academy of American Poets *The Fellowship of Southern Writers > Al Young Biography *Library of Congress Online Catalog > Al Young *Mississippi Writers & Musicians: Al Young *Al Young Official website. *[http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/01/books/in-short-nonfiction-384689.html REVIEW: The New York Times Sunday Book Review > Review by MICHAEL E. ROSS of Mingus/Mingus: Two Memoirs by Janet Coleman and Al Young > Sunday, October 1, 1989] *Angel City Press > Author Page > Al Young Category:American poets Category:American novelists Category:American essayists Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:English-language poets Category:Writers from Mississippi Category:Writers from California Category:People from Jackson County, Mississippi Category:People from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:Stanford University faculty Category:Rice University staff Category:Guggenheim Fellows Category:Fulbright Scholars Category:American academics Category:Poets Laureate of California Category:African American poets Category:Symbols of California Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:Poets